Growing up, I can remember having one very good friend at any given time. I am not quite sure why. Did I only have the capacity to fit one person in? Did I like that one person so much, that others were just okay? Did only one person like me during that given time--that's very possible, too. There were other people we played with in the neighborhood or at school, but I seem to have always had one special person to share my life with. Usually it was a girl, but I also had a good number of boys who became "my person" for seasons and a couple have remained my go-to person as I needed to ask questions that men would have a better insight into or when I needed a man's view or perspective. Yet, there were other times where I was absolutely lonely and seemed to have no one. No one to call. No one to share the burden. No one.
After high school, I seemed to find myself with groups of friends. Tribes. People with common interests or a common place at a given time in life (e.g. Cedar Point, OU, the Navy, etc.). These were the people I did life with outside of or in addition to my family. And some of them became family. In the Navy, it was women from my squadron and those I shared a common room in the barracks and a select few men we hung out with. In 2000, I was working for an insurance company and met my bestie, MW, and a few other women who became my Ya-Ya's. During what turned out to be some of the best and the hardest times in my life, MW, TMK, LM, and AL were with me. And we did life together as true sisters do. As life changed, so did our relationships, but I will always cherish them and that time.
In 2011, I was feeling a real lack on the friend front. I had been divorced a few years and anyone who has been through that knows that changes a lot of relationships and you. The friends I did have either lived on the east side of town (that is a real-life divider in Cleveland, friends!), and while my mom and I had a great relationship by this time, I didn't want to hang out with her all the time. So, I sought my new friend, Jesus, and asked if I could get some west side friends to do life with. And ya know what? He brought me the next most significant tribe who I probably would not have been friends with had it not been for this prayer. A singles group started at our church. I had just started a new job and was traveling back and forth to Mechanicsburg, PA into what I would later call Sodom and Gomorrah. In January, there was a gathering at one of the homes. I walked in and Sherri came up to me and gave me a huge hug and welcomed me. We became fast friends and walked together closely in the years that followed. I also met the rest of what we affectionately call the SAS (Super Awesome Singles--original, right?!) group, Bill, Brenda, Chris, Clint, Patti [and Maureen-she was raising young kids so she spent less time with the broader group, but is one of our splinter group of just the girls, minus Sherri who moved to FL after she married--see, life is complicated and changes, but it's still good!]. In 2013, our SAS leadership team made up of the seven of us did a study by Henry Blackaby which changed me and through that, my life, called Experiencing God.
I had the joy of being able to share JM with Maureen and Brenda and their spouses. I also got to share him with someone God sent into my life whose life was so similar to my own that we became fast friends from the moment I interviewed her for a job which she left 16 or so months later for more money. Today, she and I meet monthly for breakfast and have become family to one another. Her name is Krishawn (KB) and I adore her. I have become her spiritual mentor and life coach which is a wonderful gift to me. Patti has been traveling a lot lately so I haven't seen her as much in the last year or so, but she, like the rest of my girls, always shows up when it matters. My long-time friend, Maura, also came back into my life the last two years. She is the godmother/aunt to my two youngest. She gets me and has been with me since Cedar Point. I even introduced her to her husband who she has been married to for 24 years now. Crazy, right?! And the last of my girls is Jennifer. We met at work (same place I met KB) and as soon as I met her, I knew she was my person. That's how it goes with me. When I meet you, it's like I know you and I know we're destined to be friends for a reason, a season, or life (how long and which I never know, but God...).
This weekend, I needed my friends. The kids had gone back to their dad's and the hurt I was feeling with JM breaking things off with me had brought up a range of emotions. I had dinner with Jennifer Friday. Lunch with Maura on Saturday. Sunday I snuggled babies and then went to KB's church and had lunch with them. By Sunday night, the struggle was real again. I sent a text to Maureen, Brenda, and Patti and each one of them called me and reached out to let me know they are here with me. They spoke Truth to me and covered me in Love. That is what sister's in Christ do. They know God's promises and not just platitudes and niceties. They can talk through the tough stuff and help you step outside of yourself and look back at the Truth of who God is in the midst of any season.
This morning, God was alive in reminding me that in all of these seasons I have been through, it is He who has been my one friend. The one who held me up even when no one was there. The one that held me when I cried myself to sleep. When I was begging him to save and restore my marriage. When I faced each heartache and difficulty this world has thrown at me--and there have been more than I care to count. This morning, he spoke truth in my heart with music (Lion and the Lamb, Good Morning), with his Word, and through others. Even though this current season has proved to be a challenge, God has met me right where I am and answered in ways I hadn't even imagined. The intimacy of the relationship I have with him now is the greatest relationship I've ever known and I am so thankful that I learned to call to Him in all of the seasons of my life so that I can know Him as my dearest friend, Daddy, Husband, lover of my soul, Provider, Healer, Redeemer, El Roi and so much more. Thank you, Lord, that you are ever present in all our seasons.
After high school, I seemed to find myself with groups of friends. Tribes. People with common interests or a common place at a given time in life (e.g. Cedar Point, OU, the Navy, etc.). These were the people I did life with outside of or in addition to my family. And some of them became family. In the Navy, it was women from my squadron and those I shared a common room in the barracks and a select few men we hung out with. In 2000, I was working for an insurance company and met my bestie, MW, and a few other women who became my Ya-Ya's. During what turned out to be some of the best and the hardest times in my life, MW, TMK, LM, and AL were with me. And we did life together as true sisters do. As life changed, so did our relationships, but I will always cherish them and that time.
In 2011, I was feeling a real lack on the friend front. I had been divorced a few years and anyone who has been through that knows that changes a lot of relationships and you. The friends I did have either lived on the east side of town (that is a real-life divider in Cleveland, friends!), and while my mom and I had a great relationship by this time, I didn't want to hang out with her all the time. So, I sought my new friend, Jesus, and asked if I could get some west side friends to do life with. And ya know what? He brought me the next most significant tribe who I probably would not have been friends with had it not been for this prayer. A singles group started at our church. I had just started a new job and was traveling back and forth to Mechanicsburg, PA into what I would later call Sodom and Gomorrah. In January, there was a gathering at one of the homes. I walked in and Sherri came up to me and gave me a huge hug and welcomed me. We became fast friends and walked together closely in the years that followed. I also met the rest of what we affectionately call the SAS (Super Awesome Singles--original, right?!) group, Bill, Brenda, Chris, Clint, Patti [and Maureen-she was raising young kids so she spent less time with the broader group, but is one of our splinter group of just the girls, minus Sherri who moved to FL after she married--see, life is complicated and changes, but it's still good!]. In 2013, our SAS leadership team made up of the seven of us did a study by Henry Blackaby which changed me and through that, my life, called Experiencing God.
I had the joy of being able to share JM with Maureen and Brenda and their spouses. I also got to share him with someone God sent into my life whose life was so similar to my own that we became fast friends from the moment I interviewed her for a job which she left 16 or so months later for more money. Today, she and I meet monthly for breakfast and have become family to one another. Her name is Krishawn (KB) and I adore her. I have become her spiritual mentor and life coach which is a wonderful gift to me. Patti has been traveling a lot lately so I haven't seen her as much in the last year or so, but she, like the rest of my girls, always shows up when it matters. My long-time friend, Maura, also came back into my life the last two years. She is the godmother/aunt to my two youngest. She gets me and has been with me since Cedar Point. I even introduced her to her husband who she has been married to for 24 years now. Crazy, right?! And the last of my girls is Jennifer. We met at work (same place I met KB) and as soon as I met her, I knew she was my person. That's how it goes with me. When I meet you, it's like I know you and I know we're destined to be friends for a reason, a season, or life (how long and which I never know, but God...).
This weekend, I needed my friends. The kids had gone back to their dad's and the hurt I was feeling with JM breaking things off with me had brought up a range of emotions. I had dinner with Jennifer Friday. Lunch with Maura on Saturday. Sunday I snuggled babies and then went to KB's church and had lunch with them. By Sunday night, the struggle was real again. I sent a text to Maureen, Brenda, and Patti and each one of them called me and reached out to let me know they are here with me. They spoke Truth to me and covered me in Love. That is what sister's in Christ do. They know God's promises and not just platitudes and niceties. They can talk through the tough stuff and help you step outside of yourself and look back at the Truth of who God is in the midst of any season.
This morning, God was alive in reminding me that in all of these seasons I have been through, it is He who has been my one friend. The one who held me up even when no one was there. The one that held me when I cried myself to sleep. When I was begging him to save and restore my marriage. When I faced each heartache and difficulty this world has thrown at me--and there have been more than I care to count. This morning, he spoke truth in my heart with music (Lion and the Lamb, Good Morning), with his Word, and through others. Even though this current season has proved to be a challenge, God has met me right where I am and answered in ways I hadn't even imagined. The intimacy of the relationship I have with him now is the greatest relationship I've ever known and I am so thankful that I learned to call to Him in all of the seasons of my life so that I can know Him as my dearest friend, Daddy, Husband, lover of my soul, Provider, Healer, Redeemer, El Roi and so much more. Thank you, Lord, that you are ever present in all our seasons.
Comments
Post a Comment